What is faith?

I can illustrate faith by a simple example. Say for instance we meet each other when I pay you a visit. I take a R10,00 note out of my pocket and say: “I give you this R10,00 note as a gift” and stretch out to give it to you. When you take it, you exercise faith. You believe my word, you act on my word. So faith is taking God at his word, believing his promises and acting upon it. In Christian circles we say: Faith is the assent of the mind to the truth of God’s revealed will. There are two kinds of faith:

1. Historical. That means to believe the Gospel’s record of the life and works of Jesus and the apostles as historical truths. We believe that they really lived and acted as the Bible tells us. But that is not enough to change your life. Therefore we speak about another kind of faith:

2. Evangelical or saving faith. This means to trust and believe the message that Christ wants you to surrender your whole life to Him personally. You then receive Jesus Christ as Saviour in your heart. You commit yourself to Him for time and eternity (for example Matthew 11:28 or John 3:16).

We exercise faith in other ways too. When you get into a bus, you exercise faith when you trust in the skill of the driver. When you are ill, you go to a doctor and exercise faith in his scientific knowledge of illnesses and medicine, etc.
You are therefor already able to believe, to trust. Channel this faith in the right direction. If you trust people, you will always be disappointed. But God is faithful. You can trust His Word and believe what He says in the Bible. Then act upon your belief.

If you need further help, do not hesitate to ask for it.

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How can a Christian witness for Jesus Christ?

Every Christian is responsible to be a witness for Christ. We read in Acts 1:8 “You will be witnesses for me.”

The question is: “How do I witness?” We must clearly understand that people have different temperaments and talents and that the answer to this question will differ from person to person. The reaction of the people to whom we witness will also differ.

There are, however, certain basic principles that will remain the same in every situation. We summarize them as follows:

1. Your own spiritual life must be right with God. That means that you must be sure of your own salvation. You must know that you are saved. A witness can only witness to that which he or she has experienced himself or herself. Hearsay evidence is not acceptable.

2. You must be faithful in your prayer life and talk to God in the silence of your heart or your place of prayer every day (See Matthew 6:6).

3. Your life, attitude and christian example must attract people to your life style. They must see by your example that you are committed to the Lord. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit the fruit of Galatians 5:22 will be visible in your life. (Please read the verse.)

4. Please remember that the conversion of a sinner, the change of attitude in the heart, can only be accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit (read John 16:7-9).

5. The contents of your message must therefore always be the Word of God. That is why you will be an effective witness only if you study the Bible. The aim of Biblecor is to help you to do so.

6. We can attract people to the Lord by the wonderful love of God. It must be demonstrated to them by our own lives.

7. Make use of free tracts (or send a donation) which can be obtained by writing to

CLF Publishers
P O Box 19
Bloemfontein
9300

Use it as a stimulant for further discussion. If people refuse to take a tract, do not argue with them. If someone has taken a tract, follow up by trying to draw reaction by asking “How did you find the tract? Do you have any further questions?”

I hope these few hints will help you.

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Why did God send His Son into this world?

Read John 3:16. When Adam and Eve, the first people, fell into sin they brought death and calamity to all of mankind (Genesis 3). In other words, every person born after them was born a sinner, or is born a sinner (see Psalm 51:5, Good News Bible). The guilt of mankind had to be paid. There was only one way: a perfect being without sin had to die to save man. An angel could not do it because angels are not human beings. There was no man or woman who could do it because everybody was defiled by sin.

So God decided in a mysterious way that the Son, the Third Person in the Trinity, should come and be born through a virgin by a miracle of the Holy Spirit. He became a man just like us. The only difference was that he had no sin and never sinned. As perfect man he volunteered to pay the debt of the sins of mankind by becoming a Sacrifice, where He shed his blood. That blood paid the debt of our sins.

Now if you accept Him as your Saviour, you are for ever saved and will go to heaven. But those who reject him, will have to pay the debt of their sins themselves in the pool of fire for ever and ever. (Revelation 21:8). What a ghastly future!

God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice when He raised Him from the dead. He is in glory now, but will come again to judge the wicked and to take all believers to Him in the places seen by John in Revelation 21 – 22.

Have you experienced God’s forgiveness yet? The way is open — come as you are. He will not send you away empty-handed (John 6:37). Accept the forgiveness Christ has earned for you, and go forward with joy and peace. Talk to a Christian if you need some further guidance.

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What is God’s power?

True power, the ability to exercise authority effectively, belongs to God alone. The power of God is shown in the creation (Psalm:148:5), and the sustaining of the world (Psalm 65:5-8). Some of His authority is delegated to mankind (Genesis 1:26-28), but God actively intervenes on many occasions, showing His power in miraculous deeds of deliverance. It was with a mighty hand and outstretched arm that He brought His people out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15), and He demonstrated His power in giving them the promised land (Psalm 111:6).

Jesus the Messiah had all authority given Him by His Father (Matthew 28:18), and He used it to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6) and to cast out evil spirits (Matthew 10:1). He gave authority to His disciples to become children of God (John 1:12) and to share in His word (Mark 3:15).

Jesus came to His ministry in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14) and He did many mighty works (Matthew 11:20). This was evidence of the power of the kingdom of God which came through Him into this world.

In the book of Acts we see the power of the Spirit operative in the life of the church (Acts 6:8). Paul looks back to the resurrection of Jesus as the chief evidence of God’s power (Romans 1:4) and sees the gospel as the means by which that power comes to work in men’s lives (Romans 1:16).

The Qur’an sets Allah forth as entirely distinct from all he has created and later Islamic orthodoxy followed this theme more ardently, believing that the further Allah could be removed from his creation, the greater he was. Of all Allah’s attributes it is his power that most impresses Muslims.

In Matthew 28:18-20 it is clear that Christ’s power sends out his people into all the world to preach the Gospel to every person. He also promises to be with them, wherever they may go. No obedient Christian will ever be alone. God’s power is at his or her disposal!

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Who is God?

God is the name the Bible gives to the great and wonderful Creator, the one who made the whole universe (Genesis 1:1). We live in time, so we have a beginning and an end. But God is different. God has no beginning and no end (Psalm 90:2). We live in a world of change, but God never changes. His love and care never change.

Christians believe in one God. The key verse of the Torah is: “Hear, o Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). It is the will of God that He becomes the focus of our entire life (Mark 12:28-30).

God has the right to command our ultimate loyalty because of who He is. In order to understand God as revealed in the Bible, we must ask: “What is not true about God?”

First, God is not the invention of the human mind. The Bible calls all man-made gods false gods or images (Hosea 13:2-3).

Second, God is not in any way part of nature. No aspect of the universe is worthy of worship (Exodus 20:4-6).

Third, God is known, not through human philosophy, but rather by what He has done. It is God Who takes the initiative to reveal Himself to mankind.

If God is known by what He does, the question then arises, what has He done?

First, God has acted as Creator (Genesis 1; Romans 1:20). One way in which the Bible refers to God as the Creator of mankind is “Father” (Matthew 6:9). God as Father cares for His creation and especially for mankind.

Second, God has acted by revealing Himself. God guided the prophets or their disciples to write the revelations which the prophets received from God (Hebrews 1:1). It is in this way that the Holy Scriptures have been formed. The Bible often refers to God Who reveals Himself through the words of the prophets (Zechariah 7:12).

Third, God has also acted in history. His acts in history were especially evident to the people of faith who participated in the Biblical covenant community (Psalm 78:1-72).

The most dramatic and definite act of God in human history is the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Through the Messiah, God has revealed Himself in a special way as Saviour (Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 1:1-3). The coming of Jesus Christ from heaven to this earth is crucial to the Christian understanding of God. Christians believe that through God’s revelation in Jesus the Messiah, all the dimensions of God’s revelation through nature, prophets or history are fulfilled and enlightened. Through Jesus we recognize in a special way that God’s revelation to mankind is one of self-giving love. That is the key to understanding God as the Father who is the Creator, God as the Spirit Who reveals Himself through the words of prophets, God as the Saviour Who acts in history (Luke 5:32). The love of God is the fountain out of which the Christian witness concerning God proceeds (1 John 4:16).

When the New Testament calls Jesus “the Son of God,” this does not for a moment mean that God begot a child through a woman, as men beget their children. The title must be understood along with all the other names given to Jesus in the Bible. The title indicates, above all, the extremely close relationship between Jesus and God. He is not merely someone “sent by God”; He has a unique knowledge of God, there is between Him and God an intimacy so profound that it becomes an actual identity of thought and action. Therefore, according to the New Testament, to obey Jesus is to obey the One who sent Him; to reject Jesus is to reject the One who sent Him; to believe in Jesus is not to believe in another Lord besides God ö it is to believe in God through Jesus (John 5:23, 10:30; 12:44).

According to the Bible, there can be no true knowledge of God outside Jesus Christ.

The one true God Who reveals Himself as Creator, Spirit, Saviour is a perfect unity of self-giving love (John 17:22). Although the Bible does not use the term, later in the history of the Christian church Christians began to use the word Trinity to try to express in human language the mystery of God’s perfect unity and perfect love. The concept of Trinity was not intended to convey that there are three gods. Never! The term is now used throughout the Christian Church in an attempt to express in human language the Biblical witness that there is only one God whose very essence is redemptive love. Christians recognize that it is unwise to attempt to explain God. Our attempts to explain God are never adequate. The term Trinity is an example of the inability of human language to adequately express the mystery of God.

Although God is a mystery, He is not unknown. The Biblical witness is that God has chosen to make Himself known to us. We have already noted that through Jesus, God has revealed Himself in a special way as Saviour (Matthew 1:21). Jesus was unique in His virgin-birth, His titles, sinlessness, His ascension to heaven. Jesus gave His life for our redemption from sin. He is the perfect Lamb of God, and through His sacrificial death and resurrection, we are forgiven and redeemed (Revelation 5:9).

The willingness of Abraham to offer his son to God (Genesis 22) was the highest proof of love that any man could show for God, so the grace of God in giving His Son for us must be the greatest manifestation of God’s Love for men. By giving His life on the cross, Jesus gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 8:10). The return of Jesus from heaven will be the climax of history. He will return to judge the living and the dead, awarding eternal life to those who love and obey Him, while casting the rest into outer darkness where they will remain for ever as objects of God’s wrath.

It should be clear by now that it is very important for you to know this wonderful God personally. You can. You can talk to Him in prayer right now. If your need any further help, please contact us by email.

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What does the number 666 mean in Revelation 13:16-18?

Slaves usually received a mark on their hand as proof of who their owner was. Kings of those times had their own personal stamp or seal for use on official documents. This mark to which John refers namely 666 must be understood symbolically. Six is often used as the symbolic number of humankind (two arms, two legs, one head, one body). “It is man’s number” (verse 18).

Through the ages people have tried to identify a person to whom this number may refer, instead of trying to establish what his main function is said to be. There are several methods which were used to try to identify a certain person to which 666 refers. One method is to give a number to every letter of the alphabet. For example: A=1; B=2, C=3; D=4 etc. So we can identify a name like Bongikasi = 115; and Vusumuzi = 152. The name of Caesar Nero in Greek is 666, because in Greek some of the letters also have numerical values.

There are Bible expositors who teach that the number 7 is the divine number of perfection, and 6 the incomplete number of man. They say that 777 refers to the Three-in-One God and that the person or power to which 666 refers, will be nearly perfect, but will never quite attain it. The purpose of the symbolic number 666 is thus to warn the believers that the Antichrist will be active near the end of time to seduce or tempt the people to believe him and to follow him. That is why believers are warned not to worship the image of the beast (verse 16).

Other people believe that the number refers to the computer age. If you look at the bar code on any article, you will notice that there are three codes that are longer than the others, but are not explained. Compare them to any of the numbers that are given, and you will see that the two thin lines mean 6. The three unnamed numbers on every barcoded article are therefore 666!. There are also proposals that every person on earth should be marked with an invisible bar code on the hand or forehead, which will have the same purpose as a credit card. It will prevent fraud, because every person will have a unique number. You will also be able to buy without money, and the amount will be substracted from your bank account and deposited in the shopkeeper’s account electronically. Nobody will be able to rob you of your money or credit card, because it will be imprinted in your body. In the light of this development it is interesting to see what Revelation 13:16-17 says!

The number may therefore have several different explanations. The mark is a symbol of the attacks of the evil one on the Christian church. Christians have to remain true to their faith and loyalty to Christ even if they are persecuted. But the Lord will still be with them to support them, in whichever way the attacks may come.

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Is it wrong to repeat our prayers?

The Bible does not forbid us to repeat our prayers. Jesus says: “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods wil hear them because their prayers are long” (Matthew 6:7). The Lord warns against the use of senseless repetitions – i.e. saying the same words over and over again until you are hypnotized. The priests of Baal prayed like that in 1Kings 18:26. They called from morning until noon: “O Baal, hear us.”

The Lord warns against such practices as shouting slogans over and over in prayers. He says, on the other hand: We must pray without ceasing (Luke 18:1; 1 Thess 5:17). That is, our attitude must be right, we must be in contact with him always, without repeating empty phrases. We should not be discouraged if He does not answer us immediately in the way we expected.

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How can I be certain that I am saved?

God wants us to be certain that our sins are forgiven. He wants us to be in the right relationship with Him. This is possible because Jesus died for us on the cross (Ephesians 1:7; Isaiah 53:5-6). The Bible says: “These things have I written … that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

If you haven’t trusted Jesus fully, you can do so now. We wrote a prayer at the end of this letter which you can pray. Come just as you are!

The Lord promises you in John 6:37: “I will never turn away anyone who comes to me.” He shall forgive all your sins if you trust Him, Him alone (Acts 10:43).

If you still doubt, even if you gave yourself to him, do the following:

1. Trust the promises of the Lord, do not trust your feelings. God promises, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (our wrongdoing)” (1 John 1:9). You must believe Him and accept this promise. It is only one of His many promises such as John 1:12; John 3:16 and others. We must not try to feel saved, we are saved because Jesus says so. Ponder over these promises and believe them. If you gave your heart to the Lord, don’t believe Satan when he says the Lord did not accept you. Read what John 8:44 says about the devil.

2. Tell other people that you are now living a new life. Tell them that the Lord saved you and that you are on a new road now. Read Romans 10:9 with great care. A secret disciple of Jesus is a weak disciple.

3. Remember that it is the task of the Holy Spirit to tell us that we really are God’s children; that you are a real believer (underline the following verses in your Bible: Romans 8:15-16; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

Say with Paul the words of 2 Timothy 1:12. (Read it aloud from your Bible).

If you still need help, please write again.
_________________________________________________________________

If you gave yourself to Jesus

Fill in this form, print it out and place it in your Bible:

Lord Jesus, I, __________________________ give myself to you today with all my sins and weaknesses. Come into my heart and purify it with Your blood. Let Your Holy Spirit stay in my heart and help me to be Your child forever! I thank you (I say so, believing Revelation 3:20) that you entered my heart this day _________________________ (date).

From now on I am on a new road, Your road. I want to live for you, for you only!

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Who is the God of the Bible?

All the nations of Africa believe in the existence of a supreme being. They say it is He who sends rain. He is the Creator who lives far away from mankind and is not really interested in us.

But the Bible, which is called the Word of God, tells us clearly who the true God is and that He is really and truly interested in us all.

What does the Bible say about God?

It says: “We know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only one God. Even if there are so-called `gods,’ whether in heaven or on earth, and even though there are many of these `gods’ and `lords’, yet for us there is only one God, the Father, who is the Creator of all things and for whom we live; and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6). Deuteronomy 4:35 and 39 says: “The Lord has shown you this, to prove that He alone is God and that there is no other … The Lord is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god.” These verses teach us that there is only one God (Read Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6 and 8; Mark 12:29; Galatians 3:20).

Furthermore, the Bible teaches that God is SPIRIT. He has no flesh and bones like a human being (John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 3:17). Those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth.

In spirit: That means with all our love, fully dedicated to Him, obeying Him with all our heart and with complete adoration.
In truth: That means without false or distorted motives, honestly, with an undivided heart.

The Bible also teaches that God is a TRINITY. This is very difficult to understand. But when God speaks about Himself or addresses Himself he says “us” or “we”. And now “we” will make human beings… (Genesis 1:26). “Now the man has become like one of us” (Genesis 3:22). “Who will be our messenger?” (Isaiah 6:8). When people are baptized we hear the minister saying: “I baptize you in the name (not names) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). When the pastor closes the service he pronounces the benediction by saying: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:13).

Does this mean that there are three Gods: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? No! There is only one God with three personalities in the Godhead. Our small human understanding cannot explain or grasp this mystery. All we can do is to believe it because this is how God revealed Himself to us.

The second Person, the Son, became a man in a miraculous way (read Matthew 1:18-22; Luke 1:26-38 and Luke 2:1-14). He had to become a real man to be able to pay the debt of the sins of man by His own blood on the cross (Philippians 2:5-11). He rose from the dead and in His glorified body ascended to heaven (Luke 24:50-52; Acts 7:56).

On the day of Pentecost the third Person, the Holy Spirit, descended to earth (Acts 1:5-8; Acts 2:1-13). He is still here and also lives in the hearts of the children of God. We don’t understand how He does this, but it is wonderful to know it. If you are a real Christian, He is also in your heart (Romans 8:9).

But the greatest miracle of all is that the God of the Bible, who is too wonderful to understand, loves you and me and is interested in everyone of us. “For God so loved the world (you also) that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever (you included) who believes in Him (you also) shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

Please understand that you need no one else to speak to Him on your behalf. You can speak through Christ to Him in prayer, because on the day of His crucifixion, when the curtain hanging in the temple was torn from top to bottom, the road to His heart was opened for us (Matthew 27:51). “When you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). This is a command of Jesus.

God is too wonderful in His being to explain Him. But the most wonderful news is that He loves us, and that we may know Him personally.

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The Trinity

The Trinity is not easy to explain because it concerns God and God is so much greater than us, that our minds cannot comprehend Him at all. God reveals Himself to us in different ways. The Trinity (tri-unity = three in one) was not thought up by people, but it is the only way to understand how God revealed Himself to us in the Bible.

As the Father, He cares for us, provides for us, disciplines us (Matthew 6:28-32, Hebrews 12:5-6).

As the Son He came to show us what God is like (2 Corinthians 4:6) and to show us how to live (1 Peter 2:21-23). He also died for us to be our Saviour (Romans 5:8).

As the Holy Spirit, He convicts us of sin, leads us to Jesus and when we accept Jesus as our Saviour, He comes to live in us making us God’s children (John 16:8, 13-14; Romans 8:16).

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus says that the disciple should baptize believers in the name (not names) of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In Isaiah 44:6 we read: “I am the first and the last; apart from Me there is no God.” But in Isaiah 63:7-10 God is called the Lord, the Saviour, the angel of his presence and the Holy Spirit in the same passage! Throughout the Bible the same divine attributes are given to each of the three persons in turn.

An illustration which may help you to understand this is to think of a man. In one way he is one person, but in another way he is three people or more. He is the son of his parents, the husband of his wife and the father of his children. He behaves differently to each of these people. Yet he is just one man. This may give us some idea of understanding the Trinity.

But if you accept by faith that God is one and yet three Persons, you will begin to experience what He does for you and the understanding will come. The important thing is to accept Jesus as your Saviour by confessing your sins and you will become a child of God.

God is one. And yet He reveals Himself in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do not have to understand Him. We dare not argue about Him. We only have to believe in Him as He reveals Himself to us.

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